Tuesday, August 20, 2013

'And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.'

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Lets see what happened this week. Walmart was great, got some candy. Went to McDonald's after wards and its way better here
than back home. It was sooooooooooooooooooo goooood. I ordered a double Big Mac, FOUR patties and I pounded that sucker. YUMMY IN MY TUMMY. The
package has not arrived. When you send another one make sure to put
ELDER John Mcilmoil so I don't have to pay a tax if they decide to scan
it and see something. Its weird but when it has elder on it they know
not to scan it.

So the MTC ran out of water, it has been gone for the past three nights so me and the other
elders in my district shower with big five gallon buckets with purified water. It
has never felt so good to drink water when showering. Got love purified
water. Almost every night we have song night. Its only when we have
the showers working. We sing hymns and as loud as possible because the
showers are loud. We always finish with Called To Serve and Armies Of Helaman.

My Spanish is getting better. We are trying to do solo espanol from 9
in the morning to 6 at night. Wow it is tough but it is good. Also I study Spanish now during deportes which is sports time. I have realized so
many things here, it's wow. I gave another blessing this past week. It was
a very good blessing and afterwards I thanked the Lord for that opportunity
to give that blessing. I said things I've never said before. I am learning what prayer is. Prayer is a conversation between you and the Lord. It is like a face to face conversation but sometimes its only you
talking. I have learned it is not successful if you don't let the spirit
guide your prayer. When you let the spirit guide your prayer you can say
what your heart truly desires and pray for things that will never have
been said before. When I pray my comps say Elder Mcilmoil is conversing
with the Lord again, I just smile and laugh and yes I am. It is so
important to pray. Also when something is on your mind is usually from
the spirit. I have never had so many one topic things on my mind before. I'm learning what true joy is as expressed in Alma 27:16-18. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/27?lang=eng

Can you get Greg a pink and blue tie for me and I will write him a letter and share what each means. I
gave away one tie on Friday. Every Friday is tie trade Friday. I
gave away the football tie, it was time to move on from that life.
Even thou I loved that tie it had so many meanings to me I realized
that it was time to move on from my old life and become like Ammon,
Alma, Captain Moroni, Amulek, Helaman and Peter and devote my life to the Lord. I have never had so many weird thoughts. Its kinds strange and
different. I don't know if it's the spirit showing me things in the future or my mind bringing Book of Mormon stories to my life but its
cool. I'm so excited that I have one more week left here. I cant believe
how fast 6 weeks has gone by and I can't imagine how fast time will go by
in the field. It makes me sad when I think about it.

Dad this is for you to remember about what ties mean:

Azul (Blue)-Love the people

Color de Rosa (Pink)-Love the Lord

Blanco (White)-Cleansed from sin

Rojo (Red)-Doctrine and Covenants19:18 (if you don't have a red tie get one.)

Go and look at my Spanish for Missionaries book; go to page 86
and tell me that the picture doesn't look like our church building. Mom
go to the Bible dictionary on pg 763 and look at the Revelation of John number 4, you will be so happy.

This past week has been hard, amazing, spiritual and boring. Its
boring because I do the same thing everyday and it's not fun things. It is frustrating, we only get to teach for 15 minutes out of a 10 hours a day, teaching is the best part. I feel a lot better and we had a health
presentation last night and I will be more careful with the health stuff. One reason I think I may have gotten sick is because I ate way to much pineapple and then I had papaya which I have never ate. It
is the most disgusting fruit ever. Even if its good for you don't eat it, its
horrible and taste so bad.

I'm dying with no hymns. Its killing me that I can't
listen to hymns. I totally wish I made CD and brought a CD player because I
need my hymns. Two of my friends have music and every now and then we
listen to it during study time and the spirit is so much stronger when
we listen to the hymns. Church music is so powerful and could be a great teacher if you have it with you. It so hard not having them to listen to, I miss my hymns.

The weirdest thing happened to me this week, every time I'm
about to end my prayer I get uncomfortable until I pray for three
certain friends, so I do and feel like my prayer is finished. Two
of those three I never have thought once about praying for them. It blew my mind
and the things I pray for them about are all different. It was a great experience but I
was shocked when they came to my mind. Its weird but cool. Last Monday is when it happened, I was saying my
prayer for the night then one name popped in my head then I prayed for
that person then another one then I prayed for them and then the last
name came into my mind. I felt peaceful and calm after. Just an amazing experience.

I'm starting to see my gifts of teaching. Last Tuesday our district no had a testimony meeting after a devotional. Five people shared their testimony, then I felt like I needed to share mine. I shared with them the importance of being worthy and thanked them for being worthy and coming out here. I also shared how great it is
that we are here in land of the Book of Mormon and get to walk in the footsteps
of our favorite stories.The room started getting quieter then I talked
about my call and how I thought I was going to a certain place for my
mission because of I how felt. When I got my call and it said Guatemala, Quetzaltenango Mission, I told them I was confused, angry, sad and disappointed. I shared with them how I found out I was going to where I needed to serve; when we were reading
in the story of Ammon, the spirit just hit me and said you're
going to where you are needed. The room was dead silent and you could
tell I had everybody's attention. I bore my testimony like I never have
done before. I know for a fact that Christ lives and the Book
of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and is a
true prophet. I also shared with them that the day I was sick I read Elder Holland's talk, 'Lord I Believe' and at the end he talks about if you
are not quite converted and have some unbelief you can lean on his testimony
because he knows for a fact that this church is true. So before I ended I
told them if any of you have some unbelief or struggling with your
testimony or anything LEAN ON MINE because I know for a fact this church
is true. I finished then I looked over at couple of Hermanas who had watery eyes and the room was dead silent and you could feel the spirit so strong. It
was amazing.

When I teach I can feel the spirit so strong and I know the spirit is teaching me. I have learned that anytime before you speak be silent for a
couple of seconds and clear your mind because that moment of silence is a
call to heaven and you are about to be one with the Holy Ghost. That is
what I have been working on in my lessons and it is working and I have also been doing the same during my prayers, the spirit is amazing.

We watched Elder Holland's address to the Provo MTC. It was so
powerful especially the end. It was from 2011, go and watch it this
week our for FHE. http://laytreasuresinheaven.com/feed-my-sheep-elder-holland/ It is just wow, he talks about Peter and Christ and
how Christ asked him if he loves him. If we truly love Christ, our life won't be
the same. We won't be going back to our old life, we will BE FEEDING HIS SHEEP now and forever. Also you need to watch Elder Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon. It is also truly amazing. They showed us the Mormon Message version. The message is just so powerful.

Fast Sundays are sweet because we have 4 hours of personal study. We do have testimony meeting and I have never seen a line so long for
testimony meeting in my life. It was all Latinos except for the 2 white people. It was crazy but they asked me to sit on the stand so I could raise and lower the
mic. It was sweet. I sit where Brother Chrystler sits at Stake Conference,
that is where the control is. Also the dinner on Fast Sunday is way good. I started reading Jesus el Cristo in espanol and it is way good. Last night I went to the
bano and read it when I was there and I understood the paragraph I reading.
It was amazing. The only problem is i can't speak espanol but I
understand it.

I'm so excited to leave to leave for the field, August 20th. Tomorrow I can finally
play soccer, we get to go and play at a Stake Center. SOOOOOO
STOKED! I've made some amazing new friends. Some I want to room with and one you and dad definitely have to meet. He's amazing, I love him so much.

You need to study and read Helaman, chapters 5 through 6.

What i love about Mom and Dad is the emails and great stories I get from them .

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

"Dear Heavenly Father, were grateful for our families. We are grateful for thy son, Jesus Christ. Please help us with learning this language. We ask thee to take care of the prophet and our families. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

Thursday, August 1, 2013

So this week has been rough. I have not felt good at all
this past week. Thursday afternoon I got beyond bloated and about 6:00 pm gastritis
hit me hard. My stomach felt like it was going to blow up. I have never experienced
so much pain. I felt like I was going to die. It was horrible. I’m better now
but I get tired very easily. I cannot thank you enough for those drawings you
sent me. They help me so much. I feel like I got a taste of how Christ
might have felt in Gethsemane that night and what Joseph Smith felt like at
times. Words can’t describe my thankfulness for that experience even though I
thought I was going to die. This is a funny story President Nyckolyason was
telling how me how long it was going to last and I said ok, then five minutes
later I asked again because I couldn’t remember and again he said 1 to 2 days
and my response was FLIP. All the elders around got a pretty good laugh when I
said that. The Spanish is a struggle. I am struggling with it, because I’m so
worn down from being sick. It is very frustrating at times. I know it’s in the Lord’s
hands and it will be ok. From this whole week I have learned we must do the Father’s
will not ours. “Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until
additional knowledge comes.” That quote is from Elder Holland’s talk, ‘Lord I Believe’ ; it hits me like none
other. It helped thru the past couple of days. I have found so much comfort in
Elder Holland’s talk, ‘None Were with Him.’
This is a very special talk for everybody. The message is amazing and has a special
spirit. I now have a great love for the bible. It is amazing to read about Christ
and his life.

When we teach I always use the bible and I didn’t expect
that. When we teach I have learned that the single most important thing is to
listen and understand with your heart. If you can do that it’s amazing, at
times it’s hard to do but I’m working on it.

So currently I now have 3 soccer jerseys, a Manchester
United uniform and an England uniform and a Guatemala jersey. The market
is so sweet. I got a nice blanket for 12 bucks and mom you will love it when
you see it. I also bought some cool pens, a nice soccer scarf and a
wallet. Both of you can fight for the wallet, I sent it home. The weather
is so nice sometimes it’s hot but not really humid like Florida. It rains every
couple of days. We had a huge thunderstorm last Tuesday it was cool but the sad
thing is there really is no thunder. That stinks. The food was good at first but
it’s starting to repetitive and so it’s bad we are all dying for some food. My
group is always the last one’s fed, so it always cold. Sometimes we get
pancakes but the bad thing is they are cold and the syrup is cold. We hardly
ever get flippin rice and beans. They occasionally bring out horchata
and some kind lemonade but that is so rare. New missionaries come in every
2 weeks. They come in on Wednesday mornings and the out going missionaries
leave on Tuesday mornings. I will leave on August 20, 2013 for the mission
field. I don’t know what time we leave on the 20th. They changed zone leaders
this week, my companion Elder Young is our new zone leader.